In the trucking industry it is desirable to be able to secure loads on flat bed trailers. A variety of techniques have been used to secure loads on a flat bed. The most commonly used method today is to secure the load with straps. These straps are positioned over a load and cinched down using winding winches secured to the trailer just below the bed. Once the load is removed the straps must be wound back up on a winch and this is currently done by hand.
The straps used to secure a load can be in excess of 30 feet in length and winding them up by hand is very time consuming. The winding winches used are fairly standard in the industry and include a cylindrical winding lug having four radial holes through the cylindrical wall and one hole through the center. The lug is typically used in conjunction with a cheater bar to provide extra leverage in cinching down the straps. Because of the problem with hand winding there has been some attempt to develop a tool to engage the lug to assist in winding up the straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,637 to Mocci shows one prior art approach to winding straps on a flat bed trailer. The device of Mocci uses a speed handle that engages the lug of a standard winch. The main problem with the device shown by Mocci is that it puts the operator in an impossible position under the truck and requires two hands to operate. Experiments have shown that to wind a strap the operator needs one hand to guide the strap onto the winch as it is wound. The device shown by Mocci requires the operator to stop frequently to straighten and guide the strap onto the winch.
A second prior art device is shown by Salemno et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,175. U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,175 shows a crank that would require only one hand to operate but the device shown also has several disadvantages. One problem with U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,175 is that it is complex to manufacture, requiring a number of individual parts and machining operations to build. Experience has also shown that the handle has a tendency to slip out of the lug holes in use, this is unacceptable to the user.
Thus it can be seen that there is a need for a strap rewind speed handle that is simple to manufacture and easy and reliable to use.